Old Iron begins

So far, not much progress to report. With my "real job" schedule, it's hard to find an undisturbed period in which to paint. But I finished the drawing, prepared and stretched the paper, and have begun working on the barn..though using a technique very new to me.


I taped off the geometric shape of the barn (which is in the background) and mixed Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue for a very wet wash over the area. I wanted to get some texture into the color to create the look of weathered wood, and in this version, unlike the last, I'm using cold press paper. So I can't use the tooth of the paper to help create the effect. While still wet, I splattered clear water, then followed that with a darker mix of the complement.

After letting that dry, I trimmed out thin strips of drafting tape (which is what you see in the photo above). I'll paint successively darker washes over the taped area to created the shadows between the vertical slats.

I don't usually use those sorts of techniques because they are very time-intensive, but I wanted to try some different effects in this painting.